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Concept
4-8-2
Summary
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-8-2 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels, eight powered and coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels. This type of steam locomotive is commonly known as the Mountain type.
The Colony of Natal in South Africa and New Zealand were innovators of the 4-8-2 Mountain wheel arrangement. The Natal Government Railways (NGR) placed in service the first tank engines with the 4-8-2 arrangement, and the NGR was also first to modify tender locomotives to use a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement. The New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) introduced the first tender locomotives designed and built as 4-8-2.
In 1888, the Natal Government Railways placed the first five of its eventual one hundred Class D 4-8-2 tank locomotives in service. The locomotive was designed by William Milne, the locomotive superintendent of the NGR from 1877 to 1896, and was built by Dübs & Company. This was the first known use of the 4-8-2 wheel arrangement in the world.
In 1906, six NGR Class B 4-8-0 Mastodon locomotives, designed by D.A. Hendrie, NGR Locomotive Superintendent from 1903 to 1910, were modified to a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement by having trailing bissel trucks added below their cabs to improve their stability when hauling fast passenger trains. These altered Class B locomotives were the first 4-8-2 tender locomotives in the world.
The first locomotive to be designed and built as a 4-8-2 tender locomotive was New Zealand's X class, designed by Alfred Beattie and built by NZR's Addington Workshops in 1908. It was designed to haul heavy freight trains on the mountainous central section of the North Island Main Trunk and it is believed that this was the source of the "Mountain" name of the 4-8-2 type, although it is also possible that the name was originated by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway in the United States, who named the type after the Allegheny Mountains. The X class was, however, not a typical Mountain type, since its trailing truck served to spread the axle load rather than to allow a larger and wider firebox.
Official source
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